Chapter 129

Zarek

I do not flee.

I withdraw.

There is a difference.

The sky peels open around me as my wings beat hard, tearing me free of the steaming ruin of forest and water below. Fire sputters under my scales, unruly, offended—my dragon snarling at the retreat even as I force us higher, faster, away.

Not because I lost.

Because I saw enough.

The leyline screams as I tear myself from its proximity, the pu